One House
Because One House is Enough www.onehouse2013.com
STATEMENT BY RICHARD HUMPHREYS Committee member One House, Senior Counsel, Labour Councillor
True cost of Seanad may be double the quoted cost of EUR 20 Million a year Wednesday 2 October 2013 The true cost of the Seanad is well in excess of the figure of EUR 20 Million quoted in the campaign, Richard Humphreys SC has stated, and may well be about double that figure. In remarks prepared for a debate at the College Historical Society in TCD tonight, Humphreys said that the figure of EUR 20 Million did not include many hidden extra costs of an unnecessary second house, including the cost of up to a further €18 Million a year in processing correspondence and representations from 60 unnecessary politicians. “The average senator directly costs the hard-pressed taxpayer an average of €70,000 in salary costs, €41,667 in expenses and €35,000 in staff costs, or a grand total of €146,667 each year per Senator, €8.8 Million in total, year in year out. That is a saving we will make immediately on the day the Seanad is abolished at the next election.” “The salary payments are so high because the basis salary is topped up by a range of little sweeteners for Senators, many of whom are coincidentally in the No Camp – for example Katherine Zappone’s extra €4000 a year as whip of the independent Taoiseach’s
nominees group, a similar amount to Sean Barrett for being the “whip” of the university senators’ group, and the additional €3100 paid out to a group of 7 senators whose onerous duty is to sit on the Seanad committee on members’ interests. These sweeteners are paid to nearly 20 of the Senate members for onerous jobs like being Fianna Fail Leader (€9,500 to Darragh O’Brien), Leas Cathaoirleach (€24,429), Leader of the University Senators (€6000 to Ronan Mullen) and so on.” “We are also shelling out €2M a year in generous pensions for former Senators, and that is a figure that will only increase. While that cost will not disappear overnight, it will be saved over time.” Humphreys said. “The indirect administrative costs of having a second house amount to a further €9.3M which again creates a huge potential for significant savings over a period of time.” “Crucially, the figure of €20M takes no account of the cost of 60 Senators to the public service system given the volume of representations generated by that group. While the Irish system has been stubbornly resistant to estimating the cost of processing representations, the UK Parliament has no such qualms and estimates the cost of a parliamentary question to be Stg£164, equivalent to €196.22. If we assume a similar cost for processing and replying to letters of representations by Senators to Government Departments, and perhaps a modest flow of 30 representations per Senator per week, we find that this unnecessary layer of surplus politicians adds an estimated total of €18,364,320 to the cost of public administration in Ireland.” “Also in addition to these quoted figures, it must be recalled that Senators are entitled to lavish golden parachutes if they lose their seats – severance payments which curiously are fully preserved for sitting senators by the strange Bill published by Fergal Quinn and Katherine Zappone. These severance payments add a further €5 million per Dail term that is not included in the published figure of €20.1 Million.” Humphreys said.
“On top of that, there are further indirect costs. Economist Colm McCarthy, whose Bord Snip Nua recommended scrapping the Seanad, pointed out that all Senators and hundreds of former Senators enjoy free city centre car parking for life, in the centre of a city where car parking spaces cost up to €3,000 per year. Depending on how many former senators are still mobile, the economic cost of free parking spaces could be anything up to a further €1 Million a year.” “We need to vote Yes to scrap this extravagance. While perhaps in good times the Seanad could have been left alone on the grounds that it did little harm, it is now essential for the political system to tighten its belt, and the Seanad is one luxury we cannot afford.” Ends Contact details: Richard Humphreys 086 781 4518 Web: Twitter: Email:
www.onehouse2013.com @onehouse2013 onehouseYES@gmail.com
About One House One House is an independent civil society group supporting a yes vote in the referendum to abolish Seanad Éireann. One House is not aligned with any political party and exists solely as a campaign group for the 2013 Seanad referendum. It is funded by its supporters and its budget will not exceed €2,000. One House Supporters Eamon Delaney, author and columnist; Barry Desmond, former
minister; Martina Devlin, author and columnist; Sean Patrick Donlan, law lecturer UL; Alan Dukes, former minister; Blair Horan, trade unionist; Richard Humphreys, senior counsel and local councillor; Gemma Hussey, former minister; Finola Kennedy, member of Constitutional Review Group; Liz McManus, former minister; Arthur Morgan, former TD; Kieran Mulvey, public servant; Jason O’Mahoney, political blogger; Eoin O’Malley, university lecturer; Jim Power, economist; Kevin Rafter, university lecturer and former journalist; Mervyn Taylor, former minister; Liam Thornton, law lecturer UCD; Mary Trayers, solicitor.